MHI Develops World's Smallest Home Fuel Cell

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI), one of Japan's leading heavy machinery manufacturers, announced on June 2, 2003, that it has developed the world's smallest home-use polymer electrolyte fuel cell, or PEFC. The main body takes up 180 liters of space, with dimensions of 100 x 60 x 30 centimeters (height x width x depth), which makes it suitable for installation on the veranda of an apartment or other such small spaces. The company also says that it has the prospect of achieving a high heat-efficiency rate of 87 percent by minimizing heat loss of the PEFC.

Electricity consumption of an average household is not always high; around 200 watts in the late-night hours, and 300 to 500 watts in some time periods of the day. This one-kilowatt fuel cell allows a family to save a large amount of electricity expenses with its daily startup and shutdown system that efficiently adjusts output according to the electricity consumption of the household.

This compact PEFC unit is fueled by city gas or liquefied petroleum gas, but it also can be fueled by other sources such as kerosene, naphtha, methanol and dimethyl ether. MHI plans to start shipping samples of the units to gas and energy companies at the end of this year.


- Residential Fuel Cell Development Reaches Practical Stage (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/db/216-j

Posted: 2003/07/11 02:19:15 PM
Japanese version